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Though
she was shocked, she had the presence of mind to pull up her right
sleeve, intending to show him her watch was still very much
there.

The
only problem was it wasn’t.

She
clutched at her skin, dragging her fingers across it, confirming
with a shudder she’d lost it.

“Are
you going to say anything?” Carson asked, eyes still
flashing.

“Hey,
buddy, keep your voice down,” Travis leaned over the bar and
hissed.

Carson
shot him a look, then cursed under his breath. “Nida?” he asked
through gritted teeth.

Everyone in the room had now stopped what they were doing to
stare at the show.

Suddenly the low lighting behind the bar couldn’t hide her any
more., and she felt completely exposed.

She
backed off. Without a word, she jogged towards the door behind the
bar, opened it, and ran through.

He was
hot on her heels.

So
were Travis and Alicia.

There
was a long dark hallway that branched off into various rooms, and
she kept striding down it until Carson actually grabbed her
shoulder and pulled her back.

A
flood of emotion followed his move as she realised she couldn’t run
from him.

“What
are you doing?” he snapped again.

She
put her hands up, hating the fact tears started to well in her
eyes.

“Hey,
Carson, calm down. Just let her speak,” Travis waded forward,
putting a hand on Carson’s arm.

She
didn’t want to speak.

She
wanted to get the hell out of here.

This
had been a monumental mistake.

Then
again, it had all been fine until Carson had showed up.

But
before she could transfer her anger onto him, she had to remind
herself she had begged him to take her to the hospital, only to
leave him in the lurch afterwards.

She
swallowed, or at least she tried to. Her mouth was so dry it felt
as if she’d inhaled a whole desert planet.

“Nothing happened at the hospital,” she finally managed, her
voice weaker than it had ever been, “they told me it was all in my
head. So I . . . ,” she trailed off, not
wanting to tell Carson she’d forgotten about him
completely.

“So
you went out, rather than going straight back to bed. Then you
breached Academy rules by taking off your wristwatch,” Carson’s
words were bitter and sharp.

“I
didn’t take it off,” Nida tried to defend herself, her already
flushed cheeks becoming redder with every word. “It must have
fallen off.”

“They
don’t fall off,” Carson spat. “They’re designed to stay on, no
matter what.”

“I
didn’t take it off,” she replied, voice shaking with
anger.

Carson
took a step back, swearing into his hand as he half covered his
face. “Of course you didn’t.”

His
tone got to her.

He
clearly didn’t believe her.

In
fact, as she cast her glance at Travis and Alicia, she realised
they didn’t believe her either. They were staring at her with a mix
of worry and surprise. And why wouldn’t they be? Even the freshest
cadets knew wristwatches couldn’t fall off.

. . . .

Yet
hers had.

She
hadn’t taken it off.

Suddenly she felt alone, completely alone.

Nobody
believed her. Because what was happening to her didn’t make
sense.

The
dreams, the watch.

And
the blue light.

She
shivered. It was a full-bodied move, more like a violent
twitch.

She
watched Carson’s already worried glare intensify. “You need to go
back to your apartment,” he lowered his voice, the anger and
frustration lessening.

He
went to reach a hand out to her, but she jerked back.

She
didn’t want to be touched.

Because she knew instinctively her skin was as cold as
stone.

She
could feel it again. The prickles jabbing their way up her wrist
from her left hand.

They
felt crippling.

Each
tingle felt like a blade of ice stabbing harder into her
flesh.

Then
they reached her bloodstream, and in a surge travelled up her arm
and into the point below her throat, exactly where her implant
sat.

She
screamed, clutching at the implant with her good hand.

It
pulsed, throbbing with a vicious, cold power.

“Nida,” Carson skidded to his knees just as she fell to
hers.

She
couldn’t breathe. She could hear herself trying to inhale, but all
she could do was wheeze.

“Jesus, she’s cold,” she heard Carson spit.

Then
she felt it.

A
surge.

Like a
wave.

Coming
straight at her.

She
froze, just as Carson ignored her icy touch to bring his arm around
her shoulders.

Something clanged in a room to her side.

Then
with a thump, thump, thump, it rolled towards the door.

Everyone in the corridor looked up to see a thin, metal pole
roll into view.

Even
though the pain still ate into her chest, and Carson still had an
arm collapsed around her, they both looked up to see the pole
tumble towards them.

There
was a moment of silence, sweet and quick, before the pole started
to vibrate.

“What
the hell?” Travis began.

Then
the pole shot forward, straight at Nida.

Carson
threw his arm to the side, his hand lighting up with the glow of
his implant.

He
caught the pole, and brought it to a stop less than a centimetre
from her throat.

She
let out a silent scream, opening her mouth wide, but unable to
force anything out.

Carson
grunted as he tried to pull the pole back. “Travis,” he
screamed.

Travis
dashed forward, grabbing the pole behind Carson.

It was
happening again.

. . . .

It was
happening again.

The
pole was a special kind of telekinetic device; she could tell from
the unique stamp all TI devices had.

“God,”
Travis groaned as both he and Carson were dragged
forward.

She
couldn’t do anything.

She
simply sat there and stared at the tip of the pole several
centimetres from her throat.

“Don’t
just sit there, move,” Alicia screamed as she latched a hand on
Nida’s shoulder and gently shifted her along the wall until the
pole no longer pinned her to it.

As
soon as Nida stood, the pole shifted to face her. With Carson and
Travis still holding onto it, they too were moved around, their
boots squeaking against the floor.

“Get
her out of here,” Carson choked through his words, “go.”

Alicia
grabbed Nida’s arm and tugged her back towards the bar.

“It’s
her implant,” Carson called after them. “Turn it off. Turn off the
implant.”

Alicia
pulled her forwards. She opened the door to the bar and shoved Nida
through.

Nida
lost her balance, falling to the floor as fear washed through
her.

She
couldn’t feel her body any more. Only the cold, stone-like
sensation.

“Get
up,” Alicia screamed as she barrelled through the door, grabbed
Nida, and shoved her against the bar.

Nida
could hardly move her limbs, but somehow she turned and scrambled
up the bar. Rolling over it, she fell off the other side, hitting
the floor with a thump.

The
whole room stared at her. Then Alicia powered over the bar, grabbed
Nida up, and shoved her in the back. “Clear the room,” she
bellowed, “there’s been an accident. Get out now.”

Though
Alicia was not senior enough to be ordering anyone around, it
didn’t matter; everyone moved.

And to
help matters along, there was a sudden resounding bang, as
something struck the door behind the bar.

The
pole.

With a
horrified gasp, Nida saw the thing start to protrude through the
closed doors.

It was
an exact replay of what had happened to her several days
before.

“Come
on,” Alicia screamed in her ear as she shoved her forward. “We have
to get you somewhere safe to turn off that implant.”

The
implant.

It
felt . . . like it was crumbling inside
her.

The
cold from her arm continued to sink into it. Only the pressure of
the situation kept her running forward rather than crumpling to her
knees in terrified agony.

Alicia
shoved her out of the main door to the bar.

As
Nida barrelled through it, she was met with a blast of night
air.

It was
cool, and there was a tang of the sea mingling with the sweet
scents of food.

She
had no time to enjoy it.

People
were rushing around, understandably freaked out, all asking Alicia
what the hell was going on.

Without a word to any of them, she grabbed Nida by the arm and
led her down the side of the building to a small square. It had
several benches and two lovely ash trees.

She’d
come here once or twice, but not recently, considering this was the
favourite haunt of the E Club.

Alicia
kept checking over her shoulder.

Reaching one of the park benches, she shoved Nida down, then,
with two hands on Nida’s collar, Alicia ripped it open to get to
the implant.

Alicia
gasped, her forehead disappearing under her thick, stylish fringe.
“What the hell is that?”

Nida
paled. Then she mustered the courage to look down.

It was
blue.

Her
implant was pulsing blue.

It
wasn’t a dream. She could see it, and so could Alicia
apparently.

With a
stiff, steadying breath, Alicia brought up her trembling hands and
tried to touch the implant.

She
couldn’t.

Something rebuffed her.

An
invisible force of some kind.

Alicia
tried again, but as her hand neared the implant, it slowed down, as
if encountering heightened gravity.

With a
gasp, she gave up and stepped back.

“What
the . . . hell is going on?” she shook her head
and took another step back.

Then
there was a bang from the club behind them.

It was
so loud, that it shook the ground. It almost sounded as if one of
the walls had fallen down, and with a shot of panic, Nida realised
one probably had.

Somehow, she was attracting that TI pole towards her. Somehow,
her implant was malfunctioning.

If she
didn’t shut it down . . . .

“What
the hell do I do?” Alicia rocked back on her feet, jerking her head
towards the club as another bang shook the ground.

Nida
didn’t have an answer.

She
felt cold.

Bone
cold.

It was
as if her blood had been replaced with the frozen expanse of
space.

She
started to fall backwards. No, that wasn’t right; she was still
sitting on the bench. But somehow, she felt as if her body was
pitching into a void.

“Nida,” Alicia rushed forward and grabbed Nida’s hand, then
she let it go with a yelp. “Nida, Nida,” she kept
calling.

Nida
didn’t answer. Instead, she watched as visions started to spread
through her mind like wildfire. She would see patches of the
planet, then a flash of the blue energy infesting her hand, then
finally the statue.

Yes,
the statue. She could remember it now.

“Nida,” she heard Alicia call one final time.

Then
Nida blacked out.

She
dreamt, almost immediately. The scraps of visions became a
whole.

She
was standing back on the planet, staring at the dust under her
feet.

Except
it wasn’t dust.

It was
buildings, plants, and people that had been crushed under the force
of immense power.

She
stared at the dust, watching the wind push it against her bare feet
and legs.

As
each speck drifted past her, she could see trapped within it the
history of a tree or a house or a flower or a child.

She
stumbled to her knees. She pushed her hands into the dust and
brought it up to her face.

As she
stared, she understood.

She’d
done this.

She
had caused this destruction.

The
energy in her hand . . . .